Reptiles are kept in the enclosure cannot be able to seek for the heat or bask under the sunlight as what we did in their natural environment. Therefore, you have to provide a heat source for them.

Not only that, but you are also responsible for maintaining the proper temperature for your reptile.

This is the reason why you should get the best reptile thermostat, which helps you keep a consistently correct temperature.

For people who have never use a thermostat before, there are many questions may come to your mind, this post will help you get to know about reptile thermostat.

What is reptile thermostat and how does it work?

A thermostat is a device that will help you control the temperature of the heat sources easily, ensure that the temperature inside your reptile’s tank always at the safest level.

There are some different types of thermostat such as on/off thermostat, dimmer thermostat, and pulse thermostat. Each type of them will have a different operation.

However, they generally control the heater by regular the power supply that the heater receives.

The thermostat will turn on/off or increase/decrease the heater when the temperature goes out of safety levels. It is identified temperature by a sensor that is placed inside the tank.

Which type of thermostat should you use?

The type of thermostat you should use depends on some factor such as the type of heater that you are using, the temperature ranger that your reptiles require. The compatibility between your heater and the thermostat is the most important aspect you should consider.

If you are using the heat pad then you can consider buying on/off thermostats, these are the best reptile thermostats for heat pad. The dimmer thermostat seems to work well with heat bulb and pulse thermostat can be used for the ceramic heater.

Can a thermostat control more than one heater?

Yes, it is. In fact, this is the safest and most effective way to use your heater. It is entirely possible to connect more than one heater or the heater and cooling devices with the same thermostat.

The thermostat will come with two sockets, which allow you to connect the thermostat and the heaters.

Whenever you feeding your fish and any dirt that built up in your aquarium would lead to the problems for your tank. To clean the tank, there is nothing better than using the best protein skimmers.

However, if you are beginners, you need to have a strict budget in mind since most aquarium protein skimmers are relatively expensive. If you’ve already started an aquarium, create a budget on what the average cost for a protein skimmer you will need to pay.

With the limited budget, you may not be able to get the extremely protein skimmer, you can still get a high-quality option on a lower budget.

These following are 2 of the best cheap protein skimmer with different features but having the same reasonable cost and efficiency: SCA-302 Protein Skimmer VS. Comline DOC 9001.

#1 Price

There are many different price levels for protein skimmers out there. If you are not ready yet to spend much of money on the high-quality and popular brand of a protein skimmer, so these two devices are an ideal choice for you.

SCA-302 protein skimmer is priced at $194 and Comline DOC is $117.99. They are not the best or highest-end equipment, they are inexpensive but you will get more value than the money you paid.

#2 Skimmer capacity

Each skimmer would come with a rating capacity about the amount of water it can handle. To get the best result, check the capacity of the protein skimmer before buying and make sure that it is suitable for your tank.

Sca-302 is the in-sump protein skimmer that will be a great choice for moderately size aquariums. It can works for tanks up to 180 gallons. Meanwhile, Comline DOC protein skimmer is the model work for smaller aquariums. It can easily handle the aquarium at 37 gallons.

#3 Features

If you are looking for the saving models, so Comline is not only cheap but also the model that would help save more on the energy bills. You will not worry about energy costs. This model also brings more powerful for its price range.

SCA-302 includes an extra-large collection cup. It also comes with a strong Atman 2000 pump, which will create great bubbles to remove the organic dissolve.

 Betta is a colorful and pretty freshwater fish. But not the same as what you see in many pet stores, Betta fish should not be kept in a tiny tank or fishbowl. You have to have the right Betta tank and provide your fish with the good condition if you want them to live the best life possible.

If you have no idea about the best Betta tank, keep reading our article since we are going to introduce to you two of the best aquarium starter kits for Betta that you should consider: Tetra Crescent Acrylic Aquarium Kit VS. Koller Panaview 5 Gallon Aquarium.

#1 Best Betta tank size

As mention above, Betta should not be kept in the small tank. You are recommended to keep them in at least 5 gallons tank size. Any smaller tank will be not enough room for Betta swim around and hide comfortably and also detrimental for the long-term health of your Betta.

Both Tetra crescent and Koller tank come with a capacity of 5 gallons, which makes them an ideal tank for Betta fish.  This size also compact enough to place perfectly in a bedroom or office.

#2 Filtration systems

Ideally, you should get a complete aquarium kit with a filter unit built-in for your first aquarium. This will ensure the success of your tank and also make maintenance much easier.

Tetra Crescent comes with a mechanical filter that pulls the water from the tank and pushes it to the filter cartridge. The sense and dual-sided mesh of the filter will work to remove the debris and waste that included in the tank. 

The filtration systems of this tank also use Ultra-activated carbon to control odors and discoloration of the water.

Koller tank provides an extremely filtration system since it offers the ability to purify the tank at a rate of 45 gallons per hour. What makes it easy to remove all the organic compose in the water. However, there are some complaints that this filter seems to be too strong for the tank capacity.

#3 Material

Tetra Crescent and Koller tank are acrylic aquariums. Although the acrylic tank is much expensive than a glass tank, it is impact resistant and much more lightweight. This will make it easy to clean and move the tank whenever you need it.

When you’re looking for a house for crested geckos, this is the big change that the best crested gecko terrarium are usually 10 gallons or 30 gallons. But these is always a larger terrarium available out there and you may you wonder if crested gecko can place in the larger tank or not.

This post will clear up your queries, the pros and cons of larger terrariums for crested gecko, and also the recommendation on how big terrarium sizes should be.

#1 Standard crested gecko terrarium size

Reptile brands usually produce vertical terrariums in standard sizes. Normally, you are recommended too keep your baby crested geckos in 8 x 8 x 12 inches terrarium, juvenile created gecko in 12 x 12 x 18 inches. And adults should be housed in 18 x 18 x 24 inch terrarium.

#2 Is larger terrarium bad for crested gecko?

These tank size above are considered to be suitable for crested geckos. But it is not means that if you keep them in a larger terrarium, it will be too big for them. The face that if you have enough space to place a larger terrarium, I would like to recommend you use the larger one for your crested gecko.

If you’ve got an adult crested gecko, you can get a tank that is as big as you want. Because you will not know that maybe one day you will want to add more decoration or accessories in the tank and decrease the living space of your pet.

You should get the tank that is bigger than these standard sizes, 40 gallons tank is ideal to house crested gecko. You only have to ensure that tank is vertical or has at least a height of 36 inches.

#3 When is a terrarium too large for crested gecko?

Large tank is not good for crested gecko all the cases. Although bigger terrariums are still small compared to their natural habitat and they should be kept in a terrarium that larger than standard, this doesn’t apply for baby and juvenile crested geckos. A baby gecko should be housed in a 10 gallons or even smaller terrarium.

Baby and juvenile crested geckos may have difficulty finding food and water in too large terrarium and it also more difficult for you to keep an eye on your pets. They also can be scary in a too large terrarium if they cannot find the shelter areas.

When it comes to feeding your chicken, it is important to know what is best chicken feed and how to feed them. Even when different brands of feed use the same ingredients, but the proportion will depend on the chicken age and the type of chicken.

With so many options of feed available, you could be overwhelming trying to get to know all the different labels. This post will help you choose the best chicken feed by comparing two of the most common chicken feed: Brown’s Layer Booster Feed VS. Scratch and Peck Feeds.

#1 Types of feed

Both Brown’s Layer Booster Feed and Scratch and Peck Feeds are the best chicken feeds and have received positive reviews. However, there are many differences between them.

Scratch and Peck Feeds is grits and oyster shells feed for chicken. Shell grit is a rich source of calcium that helps the hens produce strong and sturdy shell eggs. Without shell grit the hens could not get enough amount of calcium and laying a wide variety of egg oddities.

Moreover, shell grits can be store in the chicken gizzard. This will make the chicken pulverize their feed and easier digest feed.

Brown feed is a pellet, which is one of the most common chicken feeds available. Pellets are compact cylinders of chicken feed. The reasons that make pellets the first choice for a chicken keeper is that they can hold their shape, easier to store and manage than other types of feed.

Besides, if you allow your chicken to access their pellets all day, they can store the excess pellets in the crop and digest them overnight.

#2 Ingredient and Nutritional

Scratch and Peck Foods can be used for all three ages of chickens: starter, grower and layer. Its ingredients include wheat, barley, peas, sesame meal plus vitamins and supplement. It is corn and soy-free, non-GMO and organic.

If you are looking for an all-natural food source for your chicken, then this feed can be the best option that gives the kitchen the total nutrition that they need. Scratch and Peck Foods provide your kitchen with an excellent amount of fatty acids and vitamins for the growth of them.

Brown feed includes corn, soybean meal, wheat middling, and other supplements. It also includes vitamins E, A, and D-3. The outstanding point of this feed is that it uses only natural plant protein.

16% Protein and high calcium formula in Brown feed make it ideal for laying hens. However, due to its amount of protein and calcium, it is should not be used for under 18 weeks of chickens.

Guinea pigs require glooming and trimming their nails regularly. This is not only to keep them always look nice but also to maintain their health. You need to learn how to cut guinea pig nails to help them trim down their claws.

Without trimming, the guinea pig’s nails will curl around; this will make the walking of guinea pigs painful and uncomfortable.

How to restrain your guinea pig’s nails?

The most difficult part of this work is restraining your guinea pigs before trimming.  When you first do this work, this may the difficult task and have a helper hold your guinea pig will much easier for you.

But when the nails trimming turn to regular routine for you and your pet, your guinea pigs will get used to it and less squirm.

Take your guinea pigs out of their cage. Place them on your lap. They should be facing away from you.

Raise them up and stand by their hind legs on your lap. Place them with their back against your belly.  Then you can hold their feet easily in front of them.

If your guinea pigs still squirm and hard to control them, you can gently wrap them up using the light towel. Make sure that you do not wrap them too tightly and make them scared.

Or you can also relax them with the best guinea pig food, which will distract your pet and calm it.

How to cut guinea pigs nails?

If your guinea pig’s nails are light or bright pink, cutting in front of the quick. Ensure that you do not cut too close to the quick or your guinea pig can be a pain.

If your guinea pig’s nails are a dark color, you have to guess the safe area to cut based on the shape of the nail. If you are not confident, it is safest to cut down about ¼ inch from the top of the nail.

What to do if the nail bleeding

There are also some accidents that can be happened when trimming. If you accidentally cut into the quick part and the nails start bleeding.

Although the bleeding does not cause any disastrous you also have to stop the bleeding using some things such as styptic powder, corn starch, flour, etc.

The fact that, choosing the best substrate for leopard gecko never been an easy task. There are a lot of materials for substrates that you can easily find in the surrounding or buying in any pet store. But there is also much debate over the matter which is the best and safe for leopard geckos.

Choosing wrong can cause the directly affect the health of your pet. It is obvious that we should look for something that not contain any potentially harm your leopard gecko but still have some factors we need to pay attention to when using the best substrate for leopard geckos.

Good substrates for leopard geckos

Paper towels: Good at absorbent, always available at the cheap price, easy to replace, environment friendly. But need to replace frequently and immediately if wet.

Reptile sand mat: totally safe with leopard geckos, not cause any risk of impaction due to its feature of gluing sand particles and the mad like mild sandpaper but it may get quite hard when cleaning.

Slate tile: This material easy to replace and clean, good at maintain heat but not absorbent so you need to clean frequently. More attracted leopard geckos than paper towels.

Special clay substrates: Clay can provide leopard geckos a good condition to show their natural behaviors because it can be shaped like clay when it is wet, but tricky to install and clean. It is considered as the best bedding for leopard geckos.

Moreover, there are some other materials that you can try as substrates for your pet such as newspapers, reptile carpet, large river pebbles, stone slabs, etc. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantage. It is hard to know exactly what is suitable for your pet for the first time because each leopard geckos has its preferences.

Substrate requirements

The material of substrates should not give any trouble for leopard geckos when they walk on, laid on it and can catch the waste produced by the geckos

Cleaning and changing substrates frequency levels will depend on the types of substrate. For example, when you see some feces in the sand, you will need to clean out the cage and remove the dirty sand part.

However, if it is a paper towel, you will need to replace it at least once time a week, because the paper towel is easy to wet and rips materials. It is also not great at collecting waste as sand.

And the most important thing is that the substrates have to safe for leopard geckos. They also should not cause irritating to the gecko’s skin and do not build up the dust, which leads the problem for the gecko’s respiratory system.

If you are an owner of an aquarium, you should know that fish are cold-blooded animals. That means their body temperature would depend on the environment surrounding them. This is the reason why you need aquarium chillers.

When the weather turns hot during the summertime, or if you set up a new lighting system in the tank, the temperature of the water also increases and affect the healthy life of your fish.

For anyone who never used an aquarium cooler before, here are some tips for you to choose the best device to maintain water temperature.

 #1 Energy consumption

The chiller will be run on the power of electricity and this would get you worried about the amount of electricity that they will consume.

If you have a smaller aquarium, choosing a chiller that designed to consume less energy. They will be ideal for keeping the temperature at a certain range. Take your time to compare the different device to find out what use the less energy.

 #2 Materials

Almost aquarium chiller would be made of plastic materials with some parts of metal.

You won’t want to regularly fix it or buy the new things for a short time of use, so make sure that your chiller has a robust design, resistant to corrosions, long-lasting even with the plastic part and worth your money.

 #3  Operating noise level

The operating noise level is also an important feature that you should consider before buying the aquarium chiller.

I’m sure that you do not want to end up with a chiller which makes a lot of noise. Some chiller works well at first, but over time they become more and more noise. You should check the fan and make sure that it is in good condition.

A filter is a device that cleans the water in the aquarium. Water is treated cleanly of waste, toxins and toxic gases suspended in the water, making the aquarium clean, oxygen-rich to help the creatures in the aquarium live healthier.

The main filter is one of the indispensable equipment for your aquarium. However, this is not a device that you can easily choose like some other accessories.

Before considering buying any filter, you need to check it carefully to see if it meets the criteria for use. You should also refer to a few aquarium filters reviews for the most comprehensive look.

Make sure that the filter has the most important features for a filter. Those features are:

#1 The motor

The motor is one of the first things you should consider before buying the best fish tank filters. Why?

The engine is simply a continuous operation, it is the part that consumes the most energy. That’s why you should choose the most energy-efficient motor possible. But of course it should also be a smooth engine.

An energy-efficient motor will greatly support the electricity bill at the end of the month.

#2 The tubes

It may not sound as important, but this tube can drive you crazy or be completely satisfied.

There are two types of tubes that you should check carefully which are intake and outtake tubes. You should choose filters with hose sections that can easily be adjusted to the length.

Surely you will go crazy when the tube is not long enough to reach the bottom of the tank or the tube is too long to make the tank look messy.

And these tubes should be able to suck impurities on the water to ensure the living environment in the aquarium is always clean.

#3 Durability

Because the filter is a 24/7 device, you have to choose one that is durable. An aquarium filter is not an inexpensive device, so choosing a durable one is also a cost-effective measure for you.

Chinchilla is the small cute, fluffy coat animal. They can be long time companions with you, since under the proper care a chinchilla can have lifespan up to 120 years.

In the wild, they come from Chile and Peru and prefer to live in groups. The chinchilla is not a difficult pet to keep, but they also have some special requirements to tame in the enclosure habitat. Once you found the best chinchilla cage, the following step is giving them the proper cage set up.

#1 Best chinchilla cage setup

Chinchillas are nocturnal rodents; in the natural their environment is the relatively low temperature and humidity area. Since they are nocturnal, they also prefer to live in a quite place.

Due to this, in order to create the best cage chinchilla setup, you should mimic these natural conditions when housing them in the enclosure.

Chinchilla should be kept in the temperature between 55 and 70 F degrees. Any temperature above 82 degrees F could lead to heat stroke for your pets. If the temperature inside your house becomes too warm, turn on air condition.

The ideal humidity range of chinchilla is between 40-50%. Placing their cage in the dry place, not damp. Ensure that the cage is well ventilated.

The cage should be placed in a quiet area, where any noise from human activities do not bother and stress them. Do not place the cage in drafts, far away from direct sunlight, which will increase temperature.

#2 What are necessary for the chinchilla cage setup?

Bedding

Chinchilla should not live in a wire bottom cage. It is better to provide them with pine shavings, old fabrics, pellet, and shredded paper. Ensure that the bedding is completely safe and do not cause any health problem for chinchillas. It is better to choose to bedding absorbs liquids and odors well.

Water bottle

Water have to always available in the cage, so you should choose the bottle that can be attaches to the cage for the steady water supply. If you use plastic bottle, casing it or cover it with wire mesh will prevent your pets from chewing it. A hay rack and a heavy ceramic food bowl can be great ways to provide food for chinchillas.

Exercise Wheel

As you known, Chinchillas are very active. Providing an exercise wheel in the cage will help them never get bore. Choosing a durable and solid floor wheel to prevent foot injury. It is better to get a 15 inches wheel. Any smaller wheel will be too small for adult chinchillas.

Toy

Any blocks of wood and tree branches can be the toys for chinchillas that help them wear down their teeth. It is important to provide toys that do not have any part of plastic.